Slew of Polls Show Public View of President Deteriorating

The majority of Indonesian voters are unhappy with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s performance, according to a Indonesia Research Center poll. (AFP Photo/Adek Berry)

More than half of Indonesians say they are unhappy with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s leadership performance, adding to the weight of evidence that the leader has lost his touch in the twilight of his decade in office.

In a Indonesia Research Center survey, 57 percent of respondents said they were not satisfied with Yudhoyono’s presidency, nearly nine years since he was first elected, IRC director Agus Sudibyo told a news conference in Jakarta on Thursday.

Agus said the survey also found that 72 percent of people did not believe that Yudhoyono could overcome the country’s problems.

Topping the list of issues on which people expressed dissatisfaction was unemployment (16.4 percent), followed by the price of staple goods (15.9 percent), poor standards of education (11.5 percent) and poor quality health services (10 percent).

IRC also reported that 6.9 percent respondents were not happy with the government’s performance on infrastructure, 6.6 percent on crime and 5.7 percent on corruption, followed by 5.7 percent on environmental issues, 3.4 percent on poverty, 0.8 percent on clean water, 0.3 percent on Indonesian migrant workers and 0.2 percent on traffic problems.

The research, conducted in May, had a 2.3 percent margin of error.

The high level of dissatisfaction with the president follows earlier research by the National Survey Institute (LSN) that also suggested perceptions of decline.

In its survey, released on Sunday, 30 percent of respondents said the country was in a worse condition during Yudhoyono’s second term than during his first, while only 19 percent said it was in a better condition. Some 49 percent of people said conditions had not changed significantly.

The May survey had 1,230 respondents and had a 2.8 percent margin of error.

Another survey, this one carried out by Indonesia Survey Circle (LSI), found that 45 percent of people believe that Yudhoyono is most responsible for this month’s increase in the subsidized fuel price.

“The president’s efforts to shift the burden to the parliament failed and the president didn’t make the announcement in person for the sake of [his] image, but it turns out he’s still being blamed for it,” LSI researcher Adjie Alfaraby said in Jakarta on Sunday.

The LSI survey also found that the Democratic Party received the most blame for the subsidized fuel price hike.

“Although the other parties in the ruling coalition, minus the Prosperous Justice Party [PKS], supported the subsidized fuel price hike, the public is angry with the Democratic Party,” Adjie said.

It was not clear what proportion of people held the rise in the global price of oil responsible for the increase in fuel prices, which have taken place in most countries around the world.

PKS official Indra said the survey justified PKS’s opposition to the fuel price policy. “The people will be miserable with the subsidized fuel price hike. With the increase in the subsidized fuel price, prices also surged by around 40-50 percent,” he said, providing no evidence for his claim.

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zerodiversity

So the only things that went up during SBY Presidency are prices and his weight?

As

And the size of his wallet

Rule Britannia

Level of corruption and hypocrisy also

Wonderer

What I really don’t get is, why they don’t at least fix the subsidy amount per liter and let the price follow the market proportionally…at least people get used to fuel having a world market price and Indonesia not having enough of it’s own to just give it away.
Plus they don’t have to be blamed for future increases that easily anymore…
Or are they naively hoping for the market fuel price to go down again…?!?

annisa

Any wonder SBY looks tired & haggared, look at all he has had to put up with during his almost a decade of Presidency, he has does a wonderful job in fighting corruption, terrorism etc. etc. & who other could have done this job so well. ?????? Wake up all you thoughtless dead-heads.

Roland

You are being sarcastic, right Annisa?

Tatanka

All his cronies are corrupt. And you call FPI, FBR, FUI, etc peace-loving organizations instead of terrorists?

Pelan2

If you are NOT being sarcastic, which country are you talking about???

Alex

SBY, is it that person who receives award for tolerating burning churches or murdering ahmadis? All will be better when they replace education in science by religious education in indonesia. Then stupidity will grow and nobody is able to care about things, i mentioned above.!

Ed Ridwan

I went to cast my vote on 2009 election at chatswood NSW since 9 AM people start coming even when my wife finish work late in the afternoon people stilll there ,Indonesian regardless their background cast their vote,ABC aired the event ,there were more than a few TPS in Sydney,no doubt SBY won the people’s vote,and years gone by to his credit he did something good for the Republik Indonesia,still in my opinion he could do better or maybe Indonesia just too hot too handle,God Bless.

Botak

There must be a reason why he got elected a second time? So it means not everything is bad.

He looks tired and burned-out. And obviously he lost connection with the reality.
One of the mayor problems in this country I see, is that there isn’t any teamwork or team spirit If you want to have something done you must do it yourself. Now try to imagine, you are surrounded by people agreeing (pretending) to every thing you say, and behind your back they follow their own stubborn ways of doing.

For me as a single person it’s easy, I can do nearly everything myself, but for running a country this it’s impossible.

Democracy hardly can’t work in Indonesia. People are used to follow, they don’t want to take responsibility. They are playing these power-games for their own agenda, for money and for prestige. Everyone want’s to be above others, and for this they need to put others down. Respect and self-respect doesn’t exist.

In my opinion even Jokowi would fail as president too, because he would need to change the whole mindset of the population = “Mission impossible!!” Even if he is able to identify people with the same ideological thinking and doing, he would need to become like a dictator, and hammer his way of thinking in the head of the people, what will take one generation.

Honest speaking it doesn’t look good for Indonesia’s future.

Pelan2

He probably looks tired and burnt out because he has just realized that he has not achieved anything in 9 years except increasing intolerance and marginalization of minorities.

Voxclara

No, he doesn’t look tired at all. Both him and the 1st missus look way over fed. Note their expression, both were no doubt thinking what’s kind of lunch/dinner will be served to satisfy their fat cells…

Valkyrie1604

Agreed! Observe their attire.

Hunri a

His first term was boosted by the Tsunami and bombing public responses which raised his profile internationally – sad but true – and then when he told us he was serious about fighting corruption and radicalism his popularity soared and he was elected with a huge public mandate

A recent survey showed that a significant number of high school students support establishing a global Islamic State. Do you believe that the Indonesian government should introduce a curriculum starting from elementary school to counter radicalization?